EU President Van Rompuy opent nieuw kantoor Ecommerce Europe in Brussel

Vorige week opende EU President Herman van Rompuy het nieuwe kantoor van Ecommerce Europe in Brussel. Ecommerce Europe vertegenwoordigt de belangen van bedrijven die producten en/of diensten online verkopen aan consumenten in Europa. Thuiswinkel.org is een van de founding members. Het kantoor ligt midden in het hart van de Europese Unie. De locatie toont de ambitie van Ecommerce Europe om dé stem te worden van de e-commerce industrie in Europa.

Van Rompuy sprak zo’n 100 aanwezigen toe bij de openingsreceptie van deze snelgroeiende belangenvereniging in Europa. Van Rompuy was duidelijk in zijn speech over waar de Europese Unie op dit moment staat ten aanzien van e-commerce. Van Rompuy: “Ladies and Gentlemen, the truth, in fact, is that we’ve let our worldwide lead slip. And this lead, Europe needs to recapture it. If we look at the past five years, the annual sales of typical American and Asian ICT companies went up by almost 50%. Meanwhile, for European companies, they stagnated or even sometime went down.” Hij gaf een soort wake-up call voor Europese policy makers: “[S]till today – and this is possible the single market’s biggest paradox – the place where we seem to struggle most in bringing down market borders is the digital economy. Ladies and Gentlemen, I am confident Europe can recapture its digital lead. That we can and will fully connect the continent. And I wish Ecommerce Europe much success in promoting a more connected and more digital Europe.”

François Momboisse, president van Ecommerce Europe, vroeg in zijn speech naar Van Rompuy aan de EU om snel te komen tot een one-stop-shop voor e-commerce policy. Momboisse: “Last year, the e-commerce industry in Europe had a total turnover of € 358 billion and it was one of the few industries that grew with double digits. It has huge potential for further growth and creating jobs in Europe. However going cross-border is still a big challenge for web shops in Europe today. With the one-stop-shop Ecommerce Europe asks the European Commission for better policy coordination for online sales issues. Today, a patchwork of policies is spread over various departments of the Commission: They are all dealing with different aspects of our business. A one-stop-shop would be a viable solution for merchants and policy makers. With today’s proposal Ecommerce Europe, in order to get rid of fragmentation and separation, proposes the creation of a one-stop-shop for e-commerce by having an integrated and coherent approach covering consumer trust, security, privacy, online payments, e-logistics and sustainability. In the next months Ecommerce Europe will outline its suggestions to facilitate the establishment of a one-stop-shop on these five key elements for the industry.”

Als reactie op het verzoek voor een one-stop-shop gaf Robert Madelin, Director-General van DG CONNECT aan dat de Europese Commissie inderdaad te gefragmenteerd werkt op het gebied van e-commerce. De rechterhand van EU Commisaris Neelie Kroes zei dat de huidige Europese Commissie het digitale portfolio niet genoeg prioteir heeft gegeven dat de Digital Single Market ver van compleet is: “It is clear that the e-commerce market is a major opportunity for years to come. The next President of the European Commission must be a digital President. Digital needs to be his or her priority and that of every other member of the College.”

Ecommerce Europe komt daartoe ook richting de Global E-commerce Summit – 16, 17, 18 juni in Barcelona – met een geïntegreerde aanpak, neergelegd in position papers op het gebied van consumer trust, privacy, e-ID, online betalen en e-logistics.